January 2026 Update

I mentioned last month that Krista and I were going with the Mickles to visit Cai and Amy and their kids, and Amelia and Ben and their daughter in Kentucky for Christmas. We had a wonderful time! God took care of us through some minor but frustrating mishaps with our rental van, and we had safety on the long drives, decent driving weather, and fun times with our Kentucky families. 

Some highlights: being at Cai's church when he was ordained as their Interim Pastor, taking the tour at the Kentucky Derby museum, going to an amazing playground that had tons of great things for the grandkids to play on (OK the parents and grandparents played a bit too), Christmas Eve dinner at Cai's house and then the service at Cai's church, and going shooting at Ben's uncle's farm.

Here are some pics of our adventures.

In the van

Newly ordained Interim Pastor and family (including uncooperative children :-))

At the Kentucky Derby

At the super cool playground

Christmas Eve dinner

That's all for this month. Happy New Year!

December 2025 Update

Krista and I were delighted when the Shaws volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year at their house.  You may remember that they moved into a new place a few months ago, and it’s a perfect place to host large family gatherings.  Everyone pitched in with food, and it was all delicious!

 

Krista and I went to get our Christmas tree this past Saturday, and we didn’t die.  We did discuss how many more years we’ll be able to do this, although so far so good.  We have a beautiful concolor fir (they smell like citrus!) all decorated now thanks to Krista, Jem, and Levi (and Kayla?) and ready for Christmas.  Next month I’ll tell you more about this, but the Mickles and Krista and I are going to Kentucky for Christmas to visit Cai, Amy, Dorothy, Ava, Amelia, Ben, and Faye.  We’re excited to do something different for Christmas!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This is the card we sent out.  If you didn't get one and wish you did, send me an email at kmomgdad@gmail.com with your street address, and I'll add you to my Christmas card list for 2026 and beyond!

November 2025 Update

There’s not a lot for this month’s update, like last month, but here are the promised pictures of our new deck.  We haven’t gotten to use it much yet because of the cold weather, but we love the brightness of our dining room now with the sliding glass door, and Krista put up twinkle lights on the deck railing to make the cold, dark days a little brighter.

Almost done--waiting for the door

Done!  We love it!

I mentioned a couple of months ago that we have three new grandkids on the way.  We were excited to learn that Ella and Cody are having a girl, Zach and Brandi are having a boy, and Amelia and Ben are having a girl.  We still have many more girls than boys—it’s 14 to 6 now and this will make it 16 to 7—but we’re delighted!

 

I was disappointed, of course, that the Mariners didn’t make the World Series, but I’m proud of their effort.  And both the Bills and the Seahawks seem to be doing pretty well this year, so I have that to root for.

 

I guess that’s all that’s going on in our lives right now, so we’ll talk again in December!

 

 

 

October 2025 Update

It seems like there isn’t much from this past month, but I did think of two things.

 

Krista and I took a long weekend in late September to go to Lakeville, NY, which is at the north end of Conesus Lake.  We stayed in an Airbnb apartment and did lots of fun hikes, both walking and bike riding, and we even rented kayaks for an afternoon cruising around a lake.  Krista planned all the activities (all I did was find the Airbnb, which was fine but not great), and the most fun one was called Rail Riding.  It’s a 2.5 mile section of railroad that is no longer used by trains, and the owners have setup cars that you drive like a bicycle.  It was super fun, and we want to do it again.

Getting ready for our rail ride

My lovely bride and the rail bike we drove

The only other event I can remember from this past month is another get-together with Krista’s sisters, Conny and Nanita, and their husbands.  This time we met for brunch at a restaurant near us (since we’re in the middle between Conny and Nanita’s houses).  Again, it was really nice to see them and get to talk with just the six of us.

 

I do have one other thing possibly worth mentioning, and that is a deck we’re having built on the back of our house.  That project is delayed because they sent us the wrong door, so I decided to wait until next month to post that news and picture when it will hopefully be done.  So now you have that excitement to look forward to!  Hopefully, that anticipation is not the highlight of your day.

 

Until November!

Post edit:  I did forget one important thing (thanks for reminding me, Uncle Erle!)

Go Mariners!

September 2025 Update

I mentioned last month that Krista and I met with her sister, Conny, and Conny’s husband, Brian, for lunch.  As planned, we did another lunch with them and added her other sister who lives nearby, Nanita, and Nanita’s husband, Ray.  We had another excellent time with all of them, and we’re going to try to do this again soon.  Nanita sent me this wonderful sisters picture.

Conny, Krista, Nanita

 

Krista and I met with an estate planning attorney recently.  We’ve been spiritually ready to die for decades by faith in the grace of Jesus paying for our sin on the cross, but now we’re also materially ready.  With the attorney’s help, we’ve setup our wills, power of attorney, health care proxies, and protected our assets if we ever need long term care.  It’s a bit of a costly process, but it is well worth it for the peace of mind we have knowing these things are done, and our children will hopefully have less to worry about when we go to eternity.  Our last step is what Krista’s been calling “death cleaning,” where we go through all the junk we’ve accumulated over 65+ years and get rid of things we’ve been holding onto for no good reason.

 

My daughter, Abigail, and her family bought a new house, and we all helped them move on August 30.  They were living in a decent area of Rochester, but now they are in a much more country area with a lot more room.  It’s a beautiful house and lot with acres to explore!

 

Then they were so happy to be there, that they hosted our local families for Labor Day.  As usual, we had tons of excellent food and a fantastic time exploring their new home and “back 40.”

 

The last thing I’ll mention is that my grandson, Alex (Hannah and Kevin’s son), started playing football with our local kids’ team.  We got to go to his first home game on September 7, and he did great.  He was playing center on the offense and linebacker on the defense, and we heard that he’s now playing running back sometimes.  We’re planning to go to his game this Sunday too, so maybe we’ll get to see that.

 

That’s all for now, I guess.  See you in October!

 

 

 

August 2025 Update

Summer greetings to all!

 

In our first news, Krista and I really wanted our house painted, but it is a lot of work.  We noticed our back-yard neighbor had her house painted, and we really liked the way it turned out for her.  So, we got the name of her painter, and his price was very reasonable.  So now our house has a fresh coat of paint, our wallets are a bit lighter, and overall, we’re very pleased.

Before

After

We had recently seen Krista’s sister, Conita, at a party they had, and we talked with her and her husband, Brian, about how we should get together more often.  So, on August 2, we met them at a restaurant about halfway between our two houses and had a nice lunch with them.  It was really good to actually be able to talk just to one other couple, which you really can’t do at big family gatherings.  We liked it so much that we’re going to do it again this Saturday and add in Krista’s sister, Nanita and her husband, Ray.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to manage talking with two other couples at the same time!

 

This past week, we were blessed to have all of our kids and their families visit us.  Originally, Cai and his family weren’t planning to come, but they managed to squeeze out a couple of days from their schedule and surprised us by joining for part of the week.  We rented lodges at a couple of different parks on different days where we could play games, enjoy playgrounds and splash pads.  We had a karaoke night, a beach day, a farm day, and a Seabreeze (our local amusement park) day.  My future daughter-in-law, Kayla, made a collage of all of the grandkids at one park.  I loved it so much I made it my phone wallpaper!  We also learned that three more grandkids are on the way from Ella and Cody, Amelia and Ben, and Brandi and Zach!  That will make 23 in case you’ve lost count.  😃

L to R and top to bottom:  Ansa Mickle, Maya Shaw, Hazel Sommer, Emmett Shaw, Alma Mickle, Truman Sommer, Faye White, Ivy Sommer, Milo Wilkinson, Lena Updegrove, Ruby Wilkinson, Dorothy Matthews, Gus Rhode, Josie Sommer, Bea Rhode, Ava Matthews, Daisy Rhode, Atlas Wilkinson, Nora Updegrove, and Alex Mickle.  The Mickles are Hannah and Kevin, the Shaws are Abigail and Bernie, the Sommers are Ella and Cody, the Whites are Amelia and Ben, the Wilkinsons are Carissa and Matt, the Updegroves are Caitlin and Ben, the Matthews are Cai and Amy, and the Rhodes are Kortney and Mat, just so you know which of my kids go with which grandkids.

Finally, a health update:  I still feel some shingles symptoms, but they are much easier.  I’m not taking pain meds anymore, but I still have a bit of a rash and minor pain occasionally.  Thanks for praying!

 

Until September!

 

 

July 2025 Update

I mentioned last month that my Uncle Erle and cousins Kevin and his wife Janet, Wayne, and Wes Wirth were going to come out here for a visit.  We had a great time meeting at a diner nearby with all of them, my Dad’s cousin, Priscilla, and lots of my family—we made quite a crowd at that diner!  The food was good, and the company was better.  We got several pictures, and here are three of them.

Uncle Erle and Priscilla

Uncle Erle and me

Our gang took up the two long tables and the two booths across from them!

Late in June, Krista had a chance to visit our daughter, Kortney, and her family in Minnesota.  She always has a wonderful time with them, and this time was no exception.  She even got to stay an extra day when her original flight home was cancelled and they booked her for the next day, so that was a nice bonus for all of them.

 

While Krista was gone, my future daughter-in-law, Kayla, and her family invited me and Jem over for supper one night.  Kayla and Levi had given me a Blackstone grill for Fathers’ Day, and Kayla’s dad, Lenny, is an experienced Blackstone griller, so he cooked Philly cheesesteaks for us and gave me a few pointers for when I start using my grill.  His food was delicious, and it gave me the courage to try cooking something for my family.  A week or so later, I made breakfast taquitos on my Blackstone, and, if I say so myself, they turned out pretty good.

 

We had some fun times around the 4th of July.  On the night of the 3rd, several of us went to our town’s fireworks show.  We didn’t have the best seats, but we could see the ones that were up high.  Then on the 4th, Ella had suggested we go to the fireworks show at Point Breeze on Lake Ontario.  That one we could see everything!  Not only were there the “official” fireworks, but several of the area neighbors had pretty impressive shows of their own.  We didn’t know which way to look!  Left, right, and straight ahead was all going at the same time!  It was actually a bit overwhelming!

 

We hosted a local family get-together on the 4th too with our usual lots of good food and fun times together enjoying the pool and nice weather.

 

My grandson, Emmett, turned one this past month, and his family hosted a party for him at the other grandparents house.  He was adorable and officially took his first steps!  I’m proud to say I helped by holding him up in front of his mom, my daughter, Abigail, who he was delighted to be able to walk to!

 

Our church had a Talent Show this past Wednesday night, and I, like usual, got up to be foolish.  I sang the song “Ticklish Reuben” that mostly consists of just laughing.  There’s one verse of words and two verses of laughing, so yeah, it’s pretty silly.  But it was fun, and people seemed to enjoy it.

 

Finally for this month, I unfortunately found out I have shingles.  It started about a week ago and was confirmed a few days ago thanks to my Nurse Practitioner son-in-law, Kevin, although I have to say that Krista was the first person to diagnose it.  It’s quite painful, although I’m able to manage the pain with ibuprofen and Tylenol and lidocaine patches.  Kevin was able to prescribe some anti-viral medications for me, which will hopefully limit the duration.  And I know that if you pray for me, God can heal me too, whether by Himself or through the medicines, so please do so!

 

Hopefully next month I’ll be able to report good progress on that health issue, and maybe more normal fun things too.